Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-16
THE COsSACKs.

Account Of a Comparatively
Unknown People.
NOT AS BARBAROUSA AS PAINTED
The "TerrOr of Europe" Not SO Bad
. Fellow After All-SOmething
Like Our Border Men.
A few weeks sojourn with the Cos.
sacks. eating, sleeping, marching and
plundering with them, gave me an en-
tircly new idea Of their character. l
had unconsciously formed my estimation
of them from the traditions regarding
them common to this day all over Cont
mental Europe. They are always nearly
alluded to as the bugbears of the human
race, and their name, the symbol of all
that is cruel, is used as potent terror
to keep runaway children at home and
to frighten them into obedience. l ex.
pected to find them, not child eaters, to
be sure, as they have been popularly
reported in the nurseries, but at least
barbarous. unwarrantably cruel, and
distinctly uncivilizsd in tastes and
habits. To my great surprise, they de.
veloped ON acquaintance close similar
ity in various traits of character to
Western frontiersmen. This is not so
remarkable fact as it would at first
appear. for parallel experiences and
kindred interests and occupations are
naturally accountable for the same char.
acteristics which distinguish both the
pioneer of the great West and the Cos.
sack of the great East. Unlike the
commen Russians. they are independent
in spirit, self.reliant and full of resource.
They know little of the cringing servili,y
that brands the ordinary Slav as an in.
ferior order Of human being. Their
pride of race and of position is unbound
cd, their faithfulness and loyalty almost
phenomenal. Accustomed to Commun-
istic government, they are thoroughly
Republican in their notions, and know
how to obey as we'll to command. They
are both prudent and brave-prudent
because they are acquainted with dan.
ger, brave because bravery is part of
their creed. 'The army may sleep in
safety when Cossacks sre at the out
post" is the common saying, for they
are believed to scent danger afar off. and
to be thus secure against surprises.
They have the keen senses of the Indian
fighter, and touch of the stoicism of
the Iudian himself. A prominent trait
of their character, and one which seems
unsccountable in conjunction with their
independence and self.reliance, is their
superstitious faith in the observance of
all sorts of religious ceremonies, in all
manner of signs and omens. The most
trivial act is often prefaced by brief
prayer or appeal for Divine aid, and by
the sign Of the cross. They never eat
without first standing erect, uncovering
the head, and repeating few words of
grace. In their list of signs and omeus
Sa0kO al o oAhiOos 30 hiouy ttChio 90 WClC
noted by the augurs in old Roman times.
In actual warfare they are the eyes. the
cars and the mouthpiece of the army.
They do the largest part of the scouting
service and OF cavalry outpost duty,
carry orders and despatches-there is no
signal corps in the Russian army-act
a. orderlies to the officers and perform
all kinds of useful services. Whenever
. man is needed for anything ou utside the
common camp duties, Cossack is sure
to be summoned; whenever the army
moves, the wiry little horses with their
jaunty riders are seen scampering in all
directions; wherever the advance guard
Of infantry penetrates, it is sure to find
that the Cossacks have already left their
mark, for they have the activity and the
enterprise of true pioneers and all the
restlessness Of savages.
While they form one of the largest
department Of the Russian army in time
of peace and in time of war, they are
entirely distinct from any other branch
SLAMS the exact relation of the Coscacks
to the government are not often clearly
understood, and they are often looked
upon more as allies thanlas subjects of
the Car. Like most existing institu-
tions of the country, they are regarded
as part of an order of things which
knows no change. 1t was only after
patient interrogations of various per-
sons in the face OF their characteristic
Indifference to precise knowledge that l
succeeded in gaining clear idea of what
and who the Cossacks are. Without
vouching for the perfect accuracy of
every detail of my information, l will
give the history of the Cossacks as l
CLEANED it during long conversations in
camp and on the march, with addition
only of q few precise dates and stats.
tics drawn from well known sources.
These pioneers of Russian civilization
form the living rampant of Russia for
the five or six thousand miles which
cover the entire Asiatic frontier from
the sea of Okhotsk in eastern Siberia to
the river Don and the Caucasus. They
sre first mentioned in the Russian
chronicles of l444, as living around that
part of the Dneiper where the city Of
Kiev now stands. They had begun to
assemble there as early as the tenth
century. escaping tyranny of all kinds
and they chose the Dneiper territory as
Q refuge because they could easily de-
fond themselves there among the impas,
sable marshes and numerous islands.
These refugees from oppression, in.
creased very fast, and although they
numbered many different classes and
races of people-victims of religious
persecution, fugitives from the crulity
of lords and masters, deserters, crimi-
mails, and outlaws-they soon united
into . more or less homogeneous mass,
essentially Russian in character, for the
larger part of them were Russians, but
utterly opposed in political creed to the
existing government. They formed, as
it were, Q republic within monarchy, q